John M. Skinner Censured Removed

John M. Skinner, a justice of the Columbia Town Court in Herkimer County, New York since 2009, was removed from office by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for "failing to appreciate fundamental legal precepts and otherwise failing to maintain professional competence in the law." The Commission's findings included Skinner conducting unauthorized communications with defendants in multiple criminal and traffic cases, dismissing charges in multiple cases without notifying or securing consent from prosecutors, summoning a witness to court after dismissing a case with no legal authority to do so, accepting a guilty plea from a defendant with limited English proficiency after an improper conversation held without an interpreter, and failing to mechanically record proceedings as required. This was not Skinner's first sanction for this type of conduct — the Commission had already censured him in 2018 for similar failures to maintain professional competence. Skinner retired at the end of 2025, but the Commission's formal removal — upheld by the New York Court of Appeals — permanently bars him from holding judicial office in the state again.